The first semi-final of the International Championship takes place on Friday with the defending champion Mark Selby taking on Martin Gould over the best of 17 frames across two sessions of play.
Selby is looking to extend his dominance in the game and go a step closer to defending his title while Gould is aiming for a win which would add another £43,000 to his ranking and make him a real chance for a spot in The Masters and one win away from a Champion of Champions place.
Mark Selby
We haven’t seen the very best of Mark Selby in this tournament but we know by now that his B game and even his C game is more than good enough to get him into the latter stages of events and the longer he is in a tournament the better he gets and the harder he is to dislodge. He has shown signs of improvement so far this week.
Selby probably needed this tournament. He ran into misfortune in a number of the best of seven lotteries which can happen but over the longer distances it takes a real big effort to beat him as we’ve seen in the last two World Championships. All four remaining players are top class but Selby looks a big favourite from here.
Martin Gould
This week has been a return to form for Martin Gould, and a much appreciated return too as he is one of the easiest players on the eye in terms of his attacking style. He likes to get the balls open and attack which is good to watch. It can leave him vulnerable when he is slightly off, especially with his long game but he isn’t far away too often.
Prior to this week, Gould hadn’t been past the third round of any tournament so he is in unchartered territory for the campaign but he has won a ranking event title and made many semi-finals so he is not new to this stage of an event. He has been made to work hard to come through to this stage but in Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter he’s seen off good opposition.
Head to Head
Martin Gould is a rare breed in that he is someone who has a head to head advantage over Mark Selby. He has won eight of their 12 matches including the last three. This is the first time they have met over anything longer than the best of nine frames which could add a different dimension to this particular encounter.
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Betting
I would be surprised if Mark Selby doesn’t come through this semi-final, purely because he is so good when we get to this stage of tournaments, but that head to head record has to be respected given that it is over such a large number of matches.
Martin Gould has battled hard this week and while he might go down I think he has come too far to give up without a fight. His scoring and his getting in from distance always makes him a danger and with him having the time to settle in I expect him to make it to six frames if not one or two more. With that in mind riding him with a 3.5 frames start seems the logical thing to do.
Tips
Back M.Gould (+3.5 frames) to beat M.Selby for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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